A gate or barrier for cordoning off an area of a house may include a mechanism for lengthening the gate, where length is defined as, for instance, the horizontal distance between the vertical jambs of a doorway. Such a mechanism may be meant to work quickly at the expense of working securely. For example, the mechanism may have a set of notches, each of which when engaged by a peg or pawl like device sets the length of the barrier at a certain predefined distance. This is problematic because some doorways are more narrow than other doorways. Therefore, utilization of one notch may engage the gate or barrier too loosely in a certain doorway, while utilization of the next notch in line may increase the effective length of the gate or barrier such that the gate or barrier is too long and may not fit in such a doorway at all. Or, if forced to fit in the doorway, the gate or barrier may bend and break or the mechanism may break. Moreover, gates or barriers for homes, especially those adjustable in length, are intended for engagement not only in doorways, but in many locations inside of the home, of which there are too numerous for these mechanisms having notches at predetermined positions.